Cherishing awe

—Connecting with vastness.

Introduction

The Grand Canyon is awesome.

Wow, that gave me goosebumps!  You are captivated by the magnificence of the human spirt, …, you are in awe. Gaze at the night sky and experience the awe of our vast universe.

Did you ever stand at the rim of the Grand Canyon? Did you climb into the canyon? Do you remember the awe?

Follow this advice of Hildegard of Bingen: "Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth's greenings. Now, Think."

Awe is characterized by a sense of wonder, vastness, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, consideration of the supernatural, and often fear.

Awe connects us to systems larger than our self—nature, music, art, spirit, morality, collectives, life, and death. We can find awe almost anywhere.

Awe is a powerful and alluring emotion. Learn to enjoy awe without being seduced by charlatans or captivated by illusions.

Although there are many mysteries, there is no magic.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to help you to:

• Welcome awe.
• Enjoy experiencing awe.
• Enjoy the benefits of awe.
• Progress from supernatural awe to natural awe.
• Eschew the woo, savor all that is real.
• Infuse your life with awesome meaning and purpose.

This course is part of the Emotional Competency curriculum.

If you wish to contact the instructor, please click here to send me an email or leave a comment or question on the discussion page.

A Powerful Emotion

Awe is an intense emotional experience that can be triggered by encountering something vast, stunning, or profound, such as a breathtaking natural scene, a majestic piece of music, or an act of kindness. Awe emerges when we recognize our profound connection to the vastness of the universe, and its impact is so profound that it challenges our ability to fully incorporate our experience into our existing worldview.

Awe transcends boundaries, encompassing a myriad of events and objects that elicit its profound impact, ranging from majestic waterfalls to the miracle of childbirth, and even scenes of utter devastation. It serves as the core essence of profound experiences in realms as diverse as religion, politics, nature, and art. Although fleeting and rare, profound encounters with awe possess the potential to forever alter the trajectory of a person's life in deeply transformative and enduring ways.

Across disciplines, theorists agree that awe involves being in the presence of something powerful, along with associated feelings of submission. Awe also involves a difficulty in comprehension, along with associated feelings of confusion, surprise, and wonder.

Experiences of awe feature both vastness and accommodation. Awe may also elicit feeling of threat, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, or supernatural causality.

Dacher Keltner defines awe as:

Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.

Awe is about our relation to the vast mysteries of life. We are coping with the recognition that we are part of something much larger.

Keltner claims we can “find awe, then, in eight wonders of life: moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spirituality and religion, life and death, and epiphany.”

Connections with Vastness

Night sky from Tony Grove Lake, United States

Vastness encompasses the perception of entities or experiences that transcend the boundaries of one's individual existence or customary sphere of understanding. It can manifest in sheer physical magnitude, but it also extends to social dimensions, including notions of fame, authority, or prestige. Indicators of vastness may include conspicuous elements like resonant sounds or tremors present in thunder, while symbolic representations such as opulent offices can evoke a profound sense of encountering something immense. In essence, vastness extends beyond mere physical proportions to encompass the expansive realms of perception and significance that surpass the ordinary scope of individual experience.

Power is highly correlated with vastness. Thunder is powerful, as is the person looking down on you from behind the large desk in a cavernous office.

Accommodation

Awesome experiences challenge comprehension.  Your mental structures, beliefs, and worldview are challenged and may be altered. You may become disoriented, confused, and even frightened. The experience may be terrifying or enlightening, depending on how you accommodate the experience. This challenge to your comprehension distinguishes awe from surprise.

Studies show that experiences of awe promote greater humility.

Benefits and Origins

Various evolutionary biologist, psychologists, and other researchers have formed hypotheses on the origins and adaptive value of awe.

Deference to power

Understanding power is an important survival skill. Many powerful animals such as lions, bison, and elephants can easily kill or injure humans. Lacking physically powerful defense mechanisms, humans learned to survive by outsmarting rather than outfighting predatory animals.  

One hypothesis is that awe centers upon the emotional reaction of a subordinate to a powerful leader.  This submission permits the formation of social hierarchies which have contributed to the survival of tribal cultures. Because awe reinforces social hierarchies groups can benefit from the guidance of a wise leader.

This deference to power may have become generalized to elicit awe in the presence of huge structures and other encounters with vastness.

Other Hypotheses

Another hypothesis speculates that awe has been sexually selected for because reverence, intellectual sensitivity, emotional sensitivity, and elite membership would have been attractive characteristics in a mate.

Yet another hypothesis is that that awe serves to draw attention away from the self and toward the environment and therefore awe functions to increase systematic, accommodative processing, and this would have been adaptive for survival.

“awe allows us to get outside of ourselves, and integrates us into larger patterns—of community, of nature, of ideas and cultural forms—that enable our very survival.”

Wonder

Wonder, and the curiosity it entails,  often arises out of experiences of awe.

“It should not surprise that people who feel even five minutes a day of everyday awe are more curious about art, music, poetry, new scientific discoveries, philosophy, and questions about life and death. They feel more comfortable with mysteries, with that which cannot be explained.”

Assignment

1. Watch this video of Paul “bear” Vasquez during his awesome experience of a double rainbow.
2. Read this list of everyday awe.
3. Recall when you have experienced awe.
   1. What where some of the most memorable and transformative experiences?
   2. Why was there such an impact? What characteristics contributed to the intensity of those experience?
4. Notice when you experience awe.
5. Enjoy the benefits of awe.
6. Savor each experience.
7. Enjoy experiencing awe often.  
8. Don’t devalue awe by frivolously using the exclamation “Awesome!”
9. Welcome awe! Cherish awe! Savor awe!

Reality is Awesome

Many naturally occurring phenomena elicit awe. These include the universe experienced as the night sky, life in its many forms, love, creativity, discovery, exploration of nature, and many other opportunities. Astronomy and biology are naturally awesome.

Assignment

1. Cherish naturally occurring awe-inspiring experiences.
2. Progress beyond illusions of supernatural awe to enjoy natural awe.
3. If you care for children encourage them to wonder.
   1. Read the article Help your child to wonder, by Rachel Carson or the book The Sense of Wonder: A Celebration of Nature for Parents and Children, by Rachel Carson

Wild Awe

Muir Woods National Monument.

Naturalist John Muir, mused:

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.

Carefully designed studies have confirmed what Muir recognized as obvious.

In one study, 124 military veterans and youth from underserved communities participated in whitewater rafting trips. At the end of each day of rafting, participants completed a rafting diary in which they reported on emotions, cognitions, and social experiences they experienced that day.

Results demonstrated that awe experienced during whitewater rafting was related to improvements in well-being and stress-related symptoms, above and beyond the effects of other positive emotions.

In a second study, 119 undergraduate students were each sent a link to a diary survey via e-mail every night for 14 consecutive days. Each diary began with questions that prompted participants to report on emotions, social experiences, and thoughts they experienced that day. At the end of the diary participants were asked to write short narratives about an experience of awe or other positive emotion they experienced that day.

Experiences of awe in everyday life correlated with increases in life satisfaction. Study results demonstrated the link between nature experiences and awe was significantly stronger than the relationships between nature experiences and all of the other positive emotions assessed in the diary. Furthermore, the estimate of the effect is more than twice as large for awe as it is for the other positive emotions.

Other studies show connections between awe and depression, that awe can help in preventing depressive symptoms, and that awe is a pathway to improved mental and physical health.

These, and other studies support the biophilia hypothesis, introduced by E. O. Wilson. He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".

Albert Schweitzer seized on the phrase “Standing in awe of Life” as capturing a universal concept of ethics, according to the following account.

The German phrase "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben" struck Albert Schweitzer “like a flash” on a boat trip on the Ogooué River in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), while searching for a universal concept of ethics for our time. Although the phrase is typically translated to English as “Reverence for Life”, at least one scholar finds that a more accurate translation is “Standing in awe of Life”.

Assignment

1. Enjoy nature in the outdoors often.
2. Enjoy nature therapy.
3. Find a comfortable, sheltered place to sit, preferably surrounded by nature, shut your eyes and listen. Hear all the sounds around you including your own breathing and heartbeat and sense life flowing through your body. Now open your eyes and and become aware of the same life flowing through the myriad of creatures all around you, from blades of grass to trees to insects and animals, extending out into the awesome immensity of space.  Sit like this feeling an integrated part of the whole scene as long as is comfortable.

Awesome Artworks

Various works of art, including music, visual arts, and architectural works, evoke powerful experiences of awe.

Music

From soothing lullabies, stirring classical music, vocal performances, or culturally significant rhythms beats, pitches, tones, contours, and timbres, listening to music or dancing to music often evokes awe.

Assignment

Enjoy works of music that evoke awe. Choose from this list of Awesome Music, or any other sections you find moving.

Visual Art

In the course of our evolution as highly cultural primates, humans have consistently discovered a profound sense of awe in visual art, spanning tens of thousands of years. Our innate aesthetic abilities, both in creation and appreciation, have empowered us to discern the intricacies of natural and social geometries, enhancing our capacity to navigate these realms with heightened intelligence. Throughout history, awe-inspiring visual art has served as a conduit, offering glimpses into the collaborative constructions we weave amid the ever-shifting mysteries of life.

Visual art becomes a conduit for direct experiences of awe, providing an avenue to savor its individual and collective benefits. As a catalyst for cultural evolution, visual art has played a transformative role in reshaping minds and histories. It has the remarkable ability to startle and awe, guiding individuals toward novel perspectives on the world.

Assignment

Enjoy works of visual art that evoke awe. Choose from this list of Awesome Visual Art, or any other selections you find moving.

Architectural Works

Great architecture can inspire awe through its grandeur, innovation, and cultural significance.

Assignment

Enjoy works of architecture that evoke awe. Choose from this list of Awesome Architectural Works or any other works, such as a local cathedral, museum, or performance venue, you find moving.

Rituals

A priest elevates the host during a Catholic Mass, one of the most widely performed rituals in the world

Rituals are a feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more. Even common actions like handshaking and saying "hello" may be termed as rituals.

Sasha Sagan, daughter of the writer Ann Druyan and astronomer Carl Sagan wrote the book For Small Creatures Such as We to highlight the role of ritual in our lives. She recognizes ritual as ways of finding meaning in our unlikely world. In short, rituals are awesome. In the book she describes rituals that are common among many cultures that celebrate birth, passing of a week’s time, each of the seasons, daily rituals, coming of age, anniversaries and births, wedding, feasts, death, and others.

These rituals celebrate and express the awe inherent in each of the events that are both ordinary—because they occur routinely—and extraordinary because life on this earth is so amazing.

Celebrate events that bring meaning to life. Cherish the awe.  

Religion

Throughout the course of human history, religions have endeavored to illuminate and explain the profound sense of awe that permeates our existence, encompassing our encounters with life, nature, and the vast cosmos. The extensive narrative of religion unfolds with a tapestry of myths, speculations, and beliefs—many of which, in hindsight, we recognize as unfounded. Nevertheless, this historical journey has provided a framework for communal bonding and imparted ancient, albeit often outdated, moral precepts. The authority bestowed upon religious leaders has yielded both benevolent deeds and, regrettably, instances of exploitation.

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, psychologist and philosopher William James defines religion as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of men in their solitude. So far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they consider the divine.” Religion is about our experience of relating to the Divine, which James describes as vast, primal, and enveloping. We can find these feelings, of bliss, oceanic love, grace, terror, despair, doubt, confusion, and mystical awe—in almost any context. In all religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Jainism, the many forms of Christianity, Islam, Sufism. In nature. In music. In ideas. And even in chemicals that we put into our bodies. His thesis is one of radical pluralism; the pathways to mystical awe are nearly infinite. Everyday mystical awe.

Our overarching objective must be to embrace the awe-inspiring aspects of life without perpetuating falsehoods or nurturing divisive tribal allegiances. We aspire to cultivate a contemporary spiritual ethos that aligns seamlessly with the latest insights from scientific inquiry, all while preserving the universal sense of wonder that unites humanity globally. In doing so, we strive to forge a path that transcends antiquated dogmas, fostering a collective understanding that harmonizes with the diverse tapestry of our shared human experience.

Although there are many mysteries, there is no magic.

Origins

As humanity dawned, ancient people were captivated by the great vastness surrounding them. They noticed sunrises, sunsets, the blazing glory of the night sky, the moon, wind, rain, snow, storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanos, birth, courage, and death, and it was awesome. It was wonderful, yet many were fearful. Some overcame their fear and dared to become curious. They wondered what was happening and why it was happening. Our species has an innate desire for understanding, and they wanted explanations. Curious people used their emerging language skills to seek explanations from others. Creative story tellers speculated and provided answers in the form of fabulous and engaging stories. We are captivated by narratives, and the story tellers began to value the influence their storytelling gave them. As the stories became more captivating, more people gathered around to listen, tell, and retell these stories. The stories provided the answers to life’s biggest questions. These stories became sacred, the story was the answer, everyone knew these stories, and there was no reason to doubt any of this. The stories were awesome, they bound the tribe together, explained the great mysteries of life, and guided our actions. We were captivated by song, dance, chanting, rituals, sacred objects, mystery, headgear, robes, expansive cathedrals, and reverence. Supernatural events, magic, and miracles enhanced the power and allure of the stories. We feared the wrath of gods, evil spirits, mystical spells, curses, and burning in hell. We sought out everlasting salvation and a heavenly afterlife, and it was awesome.

In traditional societies, religions emerged to explain our awesome universe. Furthermore, traditional religious settings often incorporate features designed to evoke awe, fostering a sense of reverence and transcendence. Today we have explanations for the wonders of our universe based on representative evidence that do not require supernatural speculations. We can allow ancient speculations, stories, and supernatural beliefs to be superseded by the best scientific thinking available today.

Assignment

Read the essay: An Awesome Big History of Religion.

Accoutrements

Traditional religious settings often incorporate features designed to evoke awe, fostering a sense of reverence and transcendence.  These include the grand architecture of cathedrals, art and symbols, rituals and ceremonies, music and chants, mystery, and sacred scriptures.

Assignment

1. Read the essay: Awesome Features of Traditional Religions
2. Savor the awe while maintaining your grip on reality.

Religious Experiences

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (detail)

Religious experiences are awesome.

A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, mystical experience, or numinous experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. These experiences often involve a sense of ecstasy, a sensation of being removed from ordinary life.

These experiences may involve ego death, or ego loss, which have a variety of scientific, psychedelic, and mystical descriptions. One description is "... complete transcendence − beyond words, beyond spacetime, beyond self. There are no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts. There are only pure awareness and ecstatic freedom.”

Various psychedelic substances can induce an ego death experience. For example, ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive brew, traditionally used by Indigenous cultures and folk healers in Amazon and Orinoco basins for spiritual ceremonies, divination, and healing a variety of psychosomatic complaints. Psilocybin can also occasion mystical-type experiences that are described as having spiritual significance.

According to William James, mystical experiences have four defining qualities:

1. Ineffability. The mystical experience "defies expression, that no adequate report of its content can be given in words".
2. Noetic quality. Mystics stress that their experiences give them "insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect." James referred to this as the "noetic" (or intellectual) "quality" of the mystical.
3. Transiency. James notes that most mystical experiences have a short occurrence, but their effect persists.
4. Passivity. According to James, mystics come to their peak experience not as active seekers, but as passive recipients.

Religious practices such as prayer, meditation, music, and dance can make religious experiences more likely. Scholarly approaches to mysticism identify several common characteristics including a unifying vision; peaceful, holy, sacred, or divine feelings, and an ineffable experience.

A recent study reported in Medical News Today, found that religion activates the same reward-processing brain circuits as sex, drugs, and other addictive activities.

The Blue Marble—Earth as seen by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972.

The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. The effect can cause changes in the observer’s self-concept and value system and can be transformative.

Awe is the gateway to supernatural or paranormal beliefs. Maintain your grip on reality as you enjoy the community and awe-inspiring aspects of your chosen spiritual practices.

Assignment

Become skeptical of supernatural claims.

1. Eschew supernatural illusions.
2. Progress beyond theism.

Our glimpse of the universe

Each awesome experience we enjoy provides us a glimpse into the vastness, wonders, and mysteries of the universe we live in. As awe challenges us to accommodate the vastness we experience, we are inspired to wonder what there is, how it came about, and what our role is in all of this. We become more open to experience, and we may experience some epiphany as we struggle to accommodate these awesome experiences.

Author Dacher Keltner speculates the experience of awe is our connection to the system. Here he is referring to the ultimately immense and complex system within which our universe is emerging; the system of which we are an integral part. This is the “IT” described by William James as a “mystical awe” and described by others as various concepts of the ultimate, the one, the source, unity, or the omega point. Systems consists of interconnections, and we experience awe when we perceive the nature and extent of our interconnections to the universe. It is awesome to become aware of our independencies. It is awesome to stand in relationship to the universe. It is awesome to become aware how we are a part of the whole universe.

Assignment

1. Complete the Wikiversity course Understanding Emergence.
2. Identify the various systems you are a part of. Consider 1) ecological systems, 2) social systems, 3) economic systems, 4) political systems, 5) educational systems, 6) healthcare systems, 7) cultural systems, 8) technological systems, 9) communications systems, 10) transport systems, 11) legal systems, 12) belief systems, 13) global systems, 14) civic systems, 15) psychological systems, 16) ethical systems, 17) the cosmos, and of course your living systems and family systems.
3. Practice systems thinking.
4. Cherish the interconnections.

Pitfalls and Vulnerabilities

Because awe is such a powerful emotion, and awe-evoking encounters can be so influential, the power of awe can be abused.

Cult leaders often use a combination of awe and charisma to influence their followers. Awe refers to the feeling of admiration and respect that people may have for someone who appears powerful, wise, or divine. Charisma, on the other hand, refers to a person's ability to inspire and attract others through their personality, charm, and confidence.

Cult leaders often use tactics that create a sense of awe among their followers, such as claiming to have special powers or knowledge, performing miraculous acts, or presenting themselves as a deity or messiah. They may also use fear and intimidation to reinforce their power and authority.

At the same time, cult leaders often have strong charismatic qualities, such as the ability to captivate and persuade others with their words, gestures, and personality. They may be able to connect with their followers on an emotional level, making them feel understood and validated.

Ultimately, the specific tactics and strategies that cult leaders use will depend on their personality, goals, and the particular circumstances of their cult. However, both awe and charisma can be powerful tools for cult leaders to influence and control their followers.

Assignment:

1. Read the essay Awesome Charlatans
2. Escape the influence of any charlatans that may have captivated you.
3. Escape any ideologies you may be captivated by.
4. Enjoy the benefits of awe while avoiding the dangers of charlatans and tyrants.

Summary and Conclusions

Awe is characterized by a sense of wonder, vastness, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, consideration of the supernatural, and often fear.

We can enjoy awesome experiences in nature, art works, and rituals.

Although there are many mysteries, there is no magic.

Awe is our awakening to the many systems we are connected to and a part of.

Awe is a powerful and alluring emotion. Learn to enjoy awe without being seduced by charlatans or captivated by illusions. Maintain your grip on reality as you welcome awe, savor awe, and cherish awe.

Assignment

Seek real good.

Recommended Reading

• Keltner, Dacher   (January 2, 2024). Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Penguin Books. pp. 336. ISBN 978-1984879707. 
• Sagan  , Sasha (October 5, 2021). For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 304. ISBN 978-0735218796. 
• Lightman, Alan (March 14, 2023). The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science. Pantheon. pp. 208. ISBN 978-0593317419. 
• Legrand, Thomas (December 4, 2021). Politics of Being: Wisdom and Science for a New Development Paradigm. Ocean of Wisdom Press. pp. 520. ISBN 978-2957758302. 
• Schneider, Kirk J. The Spirituality of Awe: Challenges to the Robotic Revolution. Waterside Productions. pp. 158. ISBN 978-1945949692. 
• Moon, Sadie Alwyn; Dempsey, Brendan Graham. Building the Cathedral: Answering the Meaning Crisis through Personal Myth. Independently published. pp. 119. ISBN 979-8728831211. 
• Fiand, Barbara (July 1, 2008). Awe-Filled Wonder: The Interface of Science and Spirituality. Paulist Press. pp. 96. ISBN 978-0809145294. 
• Goleman, Daniel; Davidson, Richard (September 5, 2017). Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body  . Avery. pp. 336. ISBN 978-0399184383. 
• Azarian  , Bobby (June 28, 2022). The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity. BenBella Books. pp. 320. ISBN 978-1637740446. 

I have not yet read the following books, but they seem interesting and relevant. They are listed here to invite further research.

• Awe: The Delights and Dangers of Our Eleventh Emotion, by Paul Pearsall
• Religion for Atheists, by Alaine de Botton
• The book of delights, by Ross Gay
• How music works, by David Byrne
• HILDEGARD OF BINGEN: A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
• Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwitch
• How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollan
• The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution, by Frank White
• The Awesome Music Project Canada: Songs of Hope and Happiness, by Terry Stuart, Robert Carli
• The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James
• The Sense of Wonder: A Celebration of Nature for Parents and Children, by Rachel Carson
• Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, by Joan Halifax
• The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision, by Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi
• The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge, by Jeffrey J. Kripal
• Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, by Pascal Boyer
• Awakening to Awe: Personal stores of profound transformation, by Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D.

References

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